TN Democrats select Alan Secrest to lead party

Nov. 6, 2013

Written by

Michael Cass

The Tennessean

A longtime political operative who last year had to shut down his polling firm because of money problems will be the next executive director of the Tennessee Democratic Party.

Alan Secrest will start work in January, party Chairman Roy Herron said Tuesday. Secrest, who has 30 years of experience in Democratic politics, announced in June 2012 that he had to close Secrest Strategic Services because “our financial circumstances have left us no choice but to discontinue this work and close our business,” The Washington Post’s The Fix blog reported.

The blog post said Secrest’s firm “has polled for members of Congress from all over the country, won statewide races in Washington state, Kansas and Georgia, and helped elect the first black mayors of three American cities — Baltimore, St. Louis and Seattle.”

In a news release, the Tennessee Democratic Party said Secrest helped elect former Tennessee congressmen Lincoln Davis and Bart Gordon and former Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell, who said, “Alan is smart and insightful and understands the issues that matter most to people. He has the ability to help this party find its way in these critical times.”

“There is no shortage of Democratic talent, passion and commitment in Tennessee,” Secrest said in the release. “I will do my best to harness and unify the amazing resources in service to Democratic wins throughout the state.”

Secrest will replace Kevin Teets, who departed earlier this year after a short tenure. The incoming director will report to Herron at a time when the chairman’s management style has come under scrutiny by party insiders and when the party’s political fortunes are suffering. Democrats hold no statewide offices and just two of nine U.S. House seats.

The party also said it has hired Nikki Holland and Mark Epps as deputy finance directors and Heather Meshell as office manager.

“Alan has probably been involved in electing more members of Congress than all the other state directors from both parties combined,” Herron said. “When we talked to his former employers in Tennessee, they all gave him extraordinarily high marks.”

Herron said he wasn’t concerned about Secrest’s polling firm going out of business last year. He said three consulting firms that helped him with his unsuccessful congressional bid in 2010 later went out of business or changed their approaches as the economy struggled.

Secrest is no stranger to criticism and hardball politics. Chicago magazine reported that Rahm Emanuel, who became President Barack Obama’s chief of staff and is now the mayor of Chicago, once sent Secrest a present after a lost campaign in New York in 1988.

“During the campaign, Emanuel had feuded with Alan Secrest, a well-known pollster,” the magazine reported. “The Democrats had lost a close race for Jack Kemp’s old seat in Buffalo, and Emanuel blamed the loss in part on a faulty Secrest poll. When the campaign was over, he sent Secrest a dead fish, accompanied by a handwritten note: ‘It’s been awful working with you. Love, Rahm.’ ”

Contact Michael Cass at mcass@tennessean.com or 615-259-8838. Ask him a question on Twitter @tnmetro.